rNDIAIf HOUSES,] 



HRE HOESE, AND 



[INDIAN HOUSES. 



abundance on the Celebes, the breed of which 

 is, on the whole, pronounced the best in the 

 Archipelago. 



Within the Eastern Archipelago, as in other 

 parts of the world, the colour of the horse 

 has a singular connection with temper, quality, 

 and locality. The prevailing colour of the 

 Archive ponies is piebald, which becomes 

 rarer and rarer as we proceed eastward. A 

 Eima pony of this colour is as rarely seen as 

 a black Arab. The prevailing colour of the 

 Batta pony is bay and mouse-colour. In 

 Java the best horses are those of the most 

 prevalent colours— namely, bays and greys; 

 the roan and mouse-coloured liorses are very 

 generally good. The worst colours are black 

 and chesnut. The Javanese have such a 

 dislike to the latter colour, that chesnut horses 

 are not permitted to appear at their public 

 tournaments. Bays, greys, and duns, are the 

 best and most frequent colours in the Bima 

 ponies. Blacks and chesnuts are not frequent, 

 but they are not considered inferior. Greys 

 and bays prevail among the ponies of Celebes 

 and the Philippines, nearly to the exclusion of 

 all others. In the plains of Celebes herds of 

 wild horses exist — no doubt the descendants of 

 a domesticated stock. 



Of the speed of the Arab horses in India, 

 we have the following account of an extraor- 

 dinary match, for 1,000 rupees, which arose 

 out of a conversation amongst several oCBcers 

 in one of the performances of the late Mr. 

 Osbaldeston. The distance to be run was 

 seventy miles in four hours and ten minutes, 

 and the number of horses was to be unlimited. 



Eleven horses, the number which it was 

 proposed to employ in the match, were, in the 

 course of a couple of days, mustered by the 

 parties and their friends, and were exercised 

 ■every morning on the race-course here for the 

 short time intervening between the making 

 and coming off of the match. 



structed by the Dutch, traverses the whole length of the 

 island. For upwards of a century the Dutch remained 

 in undisturbed possession of Java, where, however, their 

 rule was most oppressive and odious to the natives ; but 

 in August, 1811, a British force took by storm Batavia, 

 their capital, and the whole colony subsequently sur- 

 rendered. Under the government of Sir Stamford Raffles, 

 whose memory is held by the inhabitants in affectionate 

 Veneration, the prosperity of the island rapidly increased. 

 But in 1816 it was restored to its former masters. 



30 



The backers of Old Time were numerous ; 

 and, in fact, the general opinion was that the 

 match would not be won: the grounds for 

 which were, that the roads were known to bo 

 in a bad state ; that the Bore Ghaut, a steep 

 and winding descent of four miles, with a 

 precipice on one side of the road, had to be 

 passed ; added to which, was the probability, 

 nay almost certainty, of obstruction from the 

 droves of bullocks carrying grain up the 

 country, with which the road is usually at 

 this season thronged. It was, moreover, sup- 

 posed that the horses in training were by no 

 means equal to the performance ; and that an 

 accident, of which there appeared more than 

 a probability, would infallibly lose the match. 



From the confidence of the parties them- 

 selves, however, the betting, at starting, was 

 even on the match being performed in four 

 hours ten minutes ; three to two against four 

 hours ; three to one against three hours fifty 

 minutes ; and ten to one that it was not 

 won in three hours and thirty minutes. 



On the first making of the match, two 

 watches on the chronometer principle, which 

 had been selected for the occasion, had been 

 placed in the hands of a watchmaker; and 

 these having been set on the day preceding 

 the match, one was taken on in the mail to 

 Pauwell by the umpire, whilst the other was 

 reserved for the start at Poena. 



At a quarter past five o'clock in the morning 

 of the day appointed for the event to " come 

 ofi"," Mr. Eawlinson, riding twelve stone, 

 appeared at the starting- place; and the word 

 "oflf" having been given, the match com- 

 menced. 



Only one, and that not a very large drove of 

 bullocks, was met between Poena and Ehan- 

 dalla; the distance, forty-four miles, having 

 been performed in exactly two hours, without 

 any accident having occurred. Here a violent 

 horse had been injudiciously stationed; and 



The population is estimated by the British surveys at 

 more than 5,000,000. The inhabitants consist of Java- 

 nese, who inhabit the interior parts, and are in general 

 the cultivators of the soil ; Malays, Chinese, Dutch, 

 English, and mixed castes. The Chinese are shopkeepers 

 and traders. The Malays are altogether a servile race, 

 and are the servants and drudges of the colonists. The 

 Javanese are of the Hindoo family, their language being 

 a dialect of the Sanscrit ; and their religion is Moham- 

 medanism, wlvich they embraced about three centuries ago. 



